Metro Nashville Director of Schools Jesse Register has assembled his team to oversee three new prekindergarten hubs that will feed a plan to expand early childhood education in Davidson County over the next four years.

Those centers — in the former Ross Elementary School, Bordeaux Elementary School and Casa Azafrán community center — will usher in 520 new seats for 4-year-olds this fall.

Register, who's made pre-K expansion his signature issue as he hits the final year of his contract, has found directors from outside and within the district to lead the pre-K centers.

Lisa Wiltshire, the district's new director or early childhood education, said the trio brings "international expertise in early childhood education."

They are:

• Ross Early Learning Center — Laura Bilbrey, formerly vice president for young children and families at the Martha O'Bryan Center in Nashville, who has run centers in London and Dublin as well.

• Bordeaux Early Learning Center — Dana Eckman, a supervisor of early learning programs in three school districts in California since 2004.